Digital Camera : Canon S230/S400

[TubStain]

After much deliberation, I've decided to jump on the digital bandwagon and retire my good ol point and shoot film camera.

I'm looking to find a good deal on either the S230 or the S400, I have the ability to get 5% off on Amazon.com (credit card offer) but I am not sure if anyone has come across a better deal out there. Any other recommendations in the price range of $300 - 400?

I'm pretty much looking for something really small and portable, 3+ MP. I'm leaning towards the S230, seems to offer a better bang for buck right now.

 

[ScoobMaster]

Here are some great sites for research:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/

I cannot speak on Canon, but I have an Olympus (D450Z) and my co-worker just bought a Fuji FinePix 3800 (3 MP and in your price range - plus 6X optical zoom!)

Megapixels are not the only spec to consider - look into ISO speeds (especially if you may be shooting a lot of indoor / low light shots), shutter speeds, lag time between shots.

Also - how important is a good optical zoom to you? Will you need a good zoom or will you always be within 10-50 feet of your subject (the realistic limit for 3X IMHO). Disregard any Digital zoom rating - digital zoom is a fancy term for interpolation by scaling the picture. (You do the same thing when you view a 1024X768 wallpaper image as 800x600)